I plan to leave my mark on the baseball world; this is where it all begins.

The First Game of Spring

It seems that anything of significance in the baseball world happens in my English class. When the MVPs were announced, I was in English. When the HOF inductees were announced, I was in English. And when Josh Beckett took the mound for the Red Sox against the Boston College Eagles, guess where I was? English. On my way, I was searching for someone that I could beg to borrow his or her phone. No such luck. I was not able to see whether Josh Beckett’s first pitch was a ball or a strike.

I did feel like I contributed to that game in some way, shape or form. I’m very superstitious when it comes to baseball, kind of like Jane as she describes in her book. Well, as I was taking my notebook out for my American History class second period, I realized that I had a Yankee book in my backpack. ‘That can’t be good chi,’ I thought, so I asked my friend to guard it in her locker. Nothing personal Jane, just superstitions.

The Red Sox beat the Eagles 7-1. A couple minor leaguers, including Chris Carter, had a nice game, and Josh Beckett fired two perfect innings and struck out two.

Disappointed as I was for missing the afternoon game, I was quite excited when I found out that the evening game would be broadcasted on MLB Network.

Jacoby Ellsbury led off the first inning by swinging at the first pitch he saw. ‘Patience!’ I thought! Well, he learned from his mistake in his next at-bat, and waited a few pitches before flying out to left. The important part is, he did make contact.

Dustin Pedroia collected the first hit of the game, hitting a nice double, which isn’t surprising for a guy coming off an MVP season.

I watched in awe as Tim Wakefield took the mound for the Sox. That knuckleball of his has been around since 1995. He played in Pittsburgh before that! I can’t imagine him anywhere else but the Red Sox, I’m glad that the Sox decided to pick up his option. Wake gave up three runs over two innings– a few batters were able to time the knuckle ball down, but some of the runs were just results of balls that got through the gap. The defense was a little rusty, but what can you expect after a long offseason? I just hate those blooper balls that fall in the proverbial bermuda triangle. Those aggravate me, unless the Red Sox hit one.

Those balls going through the gap even got to Youkilis, it wasn’t just Diaz (SS) and Khoury (3B). By the way, did you guys see Youk’s latest Youk Fu? I thought that was hilarious!

Josh Bard did a nice job catching Wakefield’s knuckleball. I think he should work on throwing over to second, because it’s pretty easy to steal considering Wakefield’s knuckleball is basically 68 mph. There was also one play in which Brad Wilkerson, recently acquired from the Blue Jays (RF) threw the ball in from the outfield and Bard tried to tag the guy before catching the ball. In the future, let’s catch before tagging :).

Billy Traber tried to pull a Dice-K: loading the bases with no outs. Even though it is Spring Training, it still gave me a heart attack. Dice-K may be the only pitcher in the majors who can get himself into jams and get out unscathed. You’re not there yet Billy, baby steps. After giving up a few runs, Billy did settle down to throw a couple of nice pitches.

Justin Masterson was sporting a beard, so he looks a bit older. Masterson, Delcarmen, Lopez, and Rairez all pitched beautifully, giving up zero runs over five innings. Masterson was a bit shaky at first, but he calmed down after a little bit.

Let me tell you guys, I am very impressed with Ramon Ramirez. Much as I miss Coco, that was a great trade. Three up, three down and two strikeouts. Talk about a great first impression. I would make him my project, but my projects are strictly confined to minor leaguers.

Speaking of projects, Jeff Bailey has pretty much secured his spot as one of my projects. I was aware of him when he was with the Red Sox in 2008, and I liked what I saw, so he was definitely on my radar for tonight’s game. I hope to see him this weekend, as well as Lars Anderson.

Jed Lowrie looked pretty good tonight, solid effort with some of those balls up the middle and a nice triple with an RBI. Jeff Bailey had the other RBI. I’m in the process of getting to know these minor league guys, but I should have at least three projects by the end of the Grapefruit League.

To answer Jacobyluvr’s question, Jed Lowrie was my project last year. I was waiting for autographs outside of the player’s parking lot, and he drove out slowly, so I ran into the middle of the street to get an autograph. I barely knew who he was! After that autograph though, I knew he’d be coming.

Rem-Dawg was unable to join Don Orsillo at the game tonight, he has an infection. All of us here at Red Sox Nation, and even on the entire blogosphere hope you feel better. Now, the Red Sox can always call me if they need an extra play-by-play. I feel like they have a mic wired to my house because they always talk about whatever I just finished talking about within five minutes. Maybe I’ll do that someday.

Overall, I was impressed with the Red Sox’s performance, and I cannot wait until tomorrow. I apologize for the lack of pictures, I had this post ready to go an hour ago, but as I was looking around the internet for pictures, I somehow closed this window, and the blog was lost.

17 Comments

Liz,
Excellent summary of Game 1. Amateur blogger today, sports reporter tomorrow! I look forward to the game for myself tomorrow here in AZ. I just wish I had a computer in the evening tomorrow! Hopefully we shall find one somewhere.

Yeah, Bardo has not been the best with his throws to second. That’s another reason I’m excited about our rookie catcher Nick Hundley, it’s that he is really good at throwing out potential basestealers! Maybe Bard will be able to work on that more as the season goes on…http://kaybee.mlblogs.com

It was a pretty good game, Elizabeth. I knew the Twins were going to have to strike early, since I didn’t like our chances against Masterson and Delcarmen. And Lopez, too. I saw enough of Ramirez last year to know that you guys got a steal. Thank goodness for Billy Traber ;)

Kaybee: I bet a lot of people stole off of him. That could really change the game… hmm…

Erin: LOL Billy Traber was God’s gift to you guys!! I swear it was like a sandwich. Wake gave up two runs, then the meat of the sandwich (the bullpen?) gave up zero, and then Traber topped it off with three runs.

Nice descriptions of some early baseball action !!! … It’s interesting to read about Billy Traber’s poor pitching performance. That’s pretty much how he pitched for the Yankees last year, and why they released him in the middle of the season … Well, it is only the first games of sping training; Traber has a little time to prove himself !!! … Just a thought, Elizabeth: since all these baseball events keep happening in your English class, maybe you should try to convince your teacher to put up a big screen TV in the front of the class room during the baseball season [of course you can compromise by keeping the sound off the TV] !!! … Enjoy your weekend at the ballpark watching the Red Sox; I look forward to your report and pictures of the game !!! … Take care !!! … — Jimmy [27NYY], “BY&L”http://baseballtheyankeesandlife.mlblogs.com/

Don’t really like Youkilis because my friend hates his cousin. That was a mucho detailed report…I can so totally see you as a sportswriter right now, going to the game and fervently writing down everything you see without missing any action!http://imbringingdiamondback.mlblogs.com

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